CBS studies {that a} Virginia state legislator is submitting a restraining order in opposition to bookstore chain Barnes & Noble in an try to get them to limit entry to sure books. This comes amidst varied makes an attempt to ban and even burn sure books throughout the United States, which simply final week prompted The Handmaid’s Tale creator Margaret Atwood to public sale off an “unburnable” model of the e book to assist the battle in opposition to censorship. In case you wanted one other reminder that we’re dwelling in a actuality the place individuals in energy within the United States have bafflingly idiotic views about censorship, right here’s the newest.
Republican lawyer Tim Anderson, who serves within the Virginia House of Delegates, said in a Facebook put up that he filed a lawsuit for his consumer Tommy Altman in opposition to Barnes & Noble and Virginia Beach Schools so as to stop minors from buying or borrowing sure books with out parental consent. Altman is at present operating for Congress, and this case is being filed in his identify even if his marketing campaign web site proclaims he helps free speech. “My client, Tommy Altman, has now directed my office to seek a restraining order against Barnes and Noble and Virginia Beach Schools to enjoin them from selling or loaning these books to minors without parent consent,” Anderson’s assertion reads.
And what books are Anderson and Altman singling out? As of this writing, there are two the lawsuit has singled out: Gender Queer, a memoir by Maia Kobabe; and A Court of Mist and Fury, a fantasy novel by Sarah J. Maas.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas. Image courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing
Virginia politician needs to ban teenagers from shopping for Sarah J. Maas e book
Gender Queer is a e book that’s coming below fireplace throughout the U.S., as issues like Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” invoice acquire traction. The American Library Association named it the primary most challenged and censored e book of 2021, so whereas I under no circumstances agree with it getting restricted, I can on the very least perceive the way it got here throughout the radar of this conservative politician.
But A Court of Mist and Fury? Not that I ever count on e book bans to make sense, however this one appears particularly ridiculous. Bestselling creator Sarah J. Maas has been writing fantasy books for years; the primary novel of her Throne of Glass collection got here out again in 2012. That collection spanned eight novels and was marketed as a Young Adult fantasy with romantic parts. And the romantic parts are there; these books had a fame for having some surprisingly steamy scenes for YA novels.
But these aren’t those being focused right here. A Court of Mist and Fury is from Maas’ subsequent collection, A Court of Thorns and Roses, which is an grownup excessive fantasy collection. As Altman factors out in his Facebook put up, the advertising for Mist and Fury calls it a “sexy, action-packed” novel. As with Throne of Glass, it has gained some notoriety for its intercourse scenes, which is what led to it being named on this lawsuit.
However, it’s an grownup novel, that means it’s shelved proper subsequent to A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, a pair aisles over from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, inside throwing distance of Stephen King’s catalogue, and proper down the best way from all the romance part. Are you actually going to inform me that A Court of Mist and Fury is extra express than something we see in these books, or any variety of others within the grownup fantasy, science fiction, romance, horror, or normal fiction sections? Barnes & Noble has company-wide shelving insurance policies; except shops in Virginia Beach are placing them within the mistaken place, these books are not being shelved within the younger grownup or youngsters’s sections of the shop.
Anderson’s request for the restraining order states that, “There is probably cause to believe that the book ‘A Court of Mist and Fury’ is obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors.” It’s additionally odd that he’s simply signaling out this one e book and never the remainder of the collection. A Court of Mist and Fury is the second out of 4 books. So I assume the remainder of them are positive?
Anderson’s put up additionally states that, “We are in a major fight. Suits like this can be filed all over Virginia. There are dozens of books. Hundreds of schools.”
If solely the battle really had something to do with youngsters’ wellbeing as an alternative of pandering to voter who apparently go in for censorship. The most disconcerting half is that, in keeping with Anderson, their request is seemingly being taken fairly critically by the Virginia Beach Circuit Court, which “found probable cause that the books Gender Queer and A Court of Mist and Fury are obscene to unrestricted viewing by minors.” The lawyer calls it a “major legal victory.”
Barnes & Noble pushed again in opposition to the Virginia legislator’s case, telling CBS that it carries “thousands of books whose subject matter some may find offensive.”
We ask that our clients respect our duty to supply this breadth of studying supplies, and respect additionally that, whereas they selected to not buy many of those themselves, they might be of curiosity to others.
Hear hear.
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